Decisions on women’s health care are vital to the health and well-being of both women and children. In many households, notably in those countries examined in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, women have little influence in health-related decisions.

In Burkina Faso, Mali and Nigeria, for example, almost 75 per cent of women reported that husbands alone make decisions about women’s health care; in the two countries surveyed in South Asia, Bangladesh and Nepal, this ratio was around 50 per cent. This exclusion compromises the health and well-being of all family members, particularly children.